These may be the same people who foresee peace in our time, but they say it can be done. Maybe you can’t teach speed and instincts, but you can teach a running back how not to fumble.

That may be somewhat true. There are case studies to prove it. But teaching a running back with fumblitis how not to put the ball on the ground in practice is one thing. Getting him not to do it in games is another matter.

Chargers tailback Ryan Mathews fumbles. He’s fast, strong, agile and dangerous, but every once in a while -- too often in crucial spots -- he leaves the football behind. As he did Sunday against Atlanta as the Chargers appeared primed to go in for a score that probably would have given them a 7-6 lead in the second quarter.

Mathews got the ball at the Falcons’ seven, darted to the three and suddenly there was a commotion. Ball loose. Atlanta recovered. The Falcons then drove 96 yards for a touchdown, basically ending the proceedings.

Chargers coach Norv Turner, whose neck is in a tight enough noose without this folderol, believes Mathews can be cured of his buttery grip. In the meantime, as he said in his Monday dealings with the media, there will be spots where Mathews won’t be playing.

“There are certain situations where we will limit his exposure,” Norv said, and when pressed, added: “I’m not going to give our game plan out.”

No need to, really. If Turner’s true to his word, Mathews won’t be getting the ball near the goal line or in short yardage, at least for now. When your best runner can’t be trusted in certain situations, it’s not a healthy thing for player or team.

It is, however, for now, proper. Turner’s job is to win football games, not Mr. Congeniality contests. Fumblers are coach killers. If Mathews wasn’t such a talent, if he hadn’t been a first-round draft choice General Manager A.J. Smith moved up plenty to get, he’d probably be in the parking lot fumbling for his keys.

“I believe you can,” Norv said when asked if you can teach a player not to fumble. “I believe it’s something I’ve experienced with Ricky Williams (in Miami). Tiki Barber went through that situation and made dramatic improvement.”

But, he then added: “We have a number of guys who are capable.” Translation: Other backs who don’t carry a football as though it’s radioactive.

Prior to his retirement, Barber explained how he learned to get a grip, admitting part of it had to do with Giants coach Tom Coughlin telling him, “You fumble, you’re not playing.”

Said Barber: “It’s correctable. It’s mechanical. Hold it high and tight. I never worried about how I look. I think a lot of times guys worry about how they look. Football is production. Nobody gives a crap what you look like. And it worked for me. Then I just didn’t worry about it. Once it became second nature to me, it was never an issue again.”

Adrian Peterson, the NFL’s best back, was The League’s greatest fumbler (20) between 2007 and 2009. He’s basically been cured, maybe because Vikings brass had him lugging around a 14-pound football.

Barber’s point was well made. Not worrying about it. But it’s easy not to worry about it in special drills, when you’re concentrating on not spitting it out. Games are different things.

“Oh, I think you can improve,” says Ted Tollner, the now-retired former head coach at San Diego State and USC and a longtime NFL offensive assistant and coordinator with the Chargers, Bills, Lions, 49ers and Raiders. “Over the past 10 years there’s been as huge emphasis in the league on taking the ball away, stripping it, and securing the ball. There are drills every day on how to strip it and how to secure it.

“They drill through blasting machines and they talk of four points of pressure, five points of pressure, six points of pressure (different ways to secure the ball). Guys who fight for extra yards, like Mathews, have a tendency to keep balls away from their body. They go through these drills to get better, but under the pressure of the game, they revert back. Old habits take over.”

That’s just it. How do you tell a back not to fight for more, when in so doing many break off long runs?